Signs of Fall

It seems to be autumn all of a sudden.  We haven't had a noticeable frost but may have had an un-noticed one or else the plants just know it is time.  The pumpkin, melon, and squash vines have started dying down revealing a pretty good yield.

These are the eating pumpkins in the garden. Winter Luxury and Rouge Vif  D'Etampes (some people call it Cinderella) are my favorites to cook up for pie and muffins.

 

The Troop 52 pumpkins are plentiful and HUGE this year.  I order the same kind of seed for them every year, a variety called Howden that has done well here.  There is also one called Howden Biggie and I wonder if we didn't get those by accident - all of them that I can see are really big!  Hopefully there are some smaller ones out there for the people who prefer non-behemoth sized jack-o-lanterns!

Remember we had some chicks hatch about three weeks ago?  Here is what they look like now.

Meanwhile, out in the summer coop there are three more hens that want to set!  Sorry ladies, wrong time of  year for that.  I keep taking their eggs; I sure hope they give it up soon.  I don't know if there is a way to re-program hens to set in the spring instead of the fall or not, but I hope so.  Guess I will have do do some research on that this winter.

With the grain harvest complete, Kevin and Rollie lost no time and got busy replanting rye and winter wheat.  Kevin is doubling the amount of winter wheat planted over last fall.  This is a photo of the no-till grain drill he rented for a nominal cost from our local NRCS office. This will be the first year we try no-till, he ran the disk over the fields to knock the stubble down and then planted with this. Some research has shown better yields with no-till so we will see what happens.

I will close with a little winter color from the goat pen.  This pine tree has a red vine that has climbed all the way up - not desirable I suppose, but festive!

No turkey talk this week!

Until next time, be well friends!